Four ethnic Armenians held in Azerbaijan jails handed over to Armenia
Azerbaijan hands over Armenian prisoners
Four ethnic Armenians held in prisons in Azerbaijan were transferred to Armenia on 14 January and are now on Armenian territory.
The entirely unexpected move was confirmed by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Armenia’s National Security Service.
Those handed over were David Davtyan, Gevorg Sudzhyan, Vigen Euljekdjian and Vagif Khachatryan.
“The process was carried out as a practical outcome of the establishment of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” Armenia’s National Security Service said in a statement.
Nikol Pashinyan wrote:
“According to the results of the initial medical examinations, no health problems have been identified in Gevorg Sudzhyan, David Davtyan and Vigen Euljekdjian. Vagif Khachatryan’s health condition [he was travelling (from Karabakh) to Yerevan in July 2023 for heart surgery when he was detained by Azerbaijani border guards] is initially assessed as satisfactory. They are being transported to Yerevan.”
According to the prime minister, the transfer process took place on the Hakari Bridge on the Armenian–Azerbaijani border.
- ‘Arrest under protection of ICRC is war crime’ – position of Armenia
- Azerbaijani army officer addresses Vagif Khachatryan’s relatives
- Inside The Oligarch’s Design, documentary about Vardanyan
- Azerbaijan court charges Armenian remaining in Karabakh with terrorism
The Azerbaijani state news agency APA commented on the event as follows:
“In accordance with a bilateral agreement reached between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and guided by principles of humanitarianism, four individuals — Vagif Cherkezi Khachatryan, Gevorg Rubenovich Sudzhyan, David Tigrani Davtyan and Viken Abraham Euljekjian — who had been convicted under various articles of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan and were serving their sentences in our country, were transferred to Armenia.
This process is also a practical outcome of the peace established between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The rights of the transferred individuals were fully respected during their detention in Azerbaijan; their health and conditions of detention complied with international standards. Prior to their transfer to Armenia, the convicted individuals also underwent medical examinations, which confirmed that their health was normal.
Vagif Khachatryan, whose health condition had been unsatisfactory, received all necessary medical care and was under constant medical supervision.”
What the ethnic Armenians released today were accused of in Azerbaijan
Vigen Euljekdjian was detained in November 2020. In 2021, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of terrorism and mercenarism.
David Davtyan and Gevorg Sudzhyan were detained in 2021 and each sentenced to 15 years in prison. Both were accused of espionage, illegal possession of weapons, and illegal crossing of the state border.
Vagif Khachatryan was detained in 2023. He was charged with participation in genocide allegedly committed in the village of Meshali in the Khojaly district during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The defendants themselves, as well as human rights defenders in Armenia, denied the accusations, calling them fabricated.
